To shop or not to shop? What to know to avoid racking up more debt when shopping sales

Amazon Prime day is over, but just about any other retailer you can think of has deals going on this weekend.

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With all the deals going on, it can be easy to shop till you drop, and your credit score might drop with you.

“I think that some things are gonna go off the racks really soon, and maybe getting ahead of that will prevent you from not being able to get what you want for Christmas,” Lauren Yacobucci said.

Like it or not, the Holiday shopping season is here. From Home Depot to Kohl’s, to Walmart.

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Retailers everywhere are starting their holiday sales.

“I think the best advice here is don’t be quick to click,” Gregg Murset, a financial planner said.

Murset said that with so many tempting deals, it’s easy for shoppers to get in over their heads.

“What I typically see people doing is overspending. Of course, that’s the fun thing to do, right?” Muset said. “You get all excited about it and you go and you wander around the website and you buy stuff that you probably shouldn’t buy.”

To get the deal now, but the bill later many turn to buy now pay later services like Klarna or Affirm.

Bankrate found that over half of millennials admit to using one. Murset says that if used incorrectly, those buy-now-pay-later services can also get you into trouble.

“We have to be really careful about this debt situation because you can get on that treadmill and you can never get off, especially with interest rates at 25% on the average,” Murset said.

Even swiping your favorite credit card, and racking up points can get you into financial trouble.

“I mean, consumer debt is at an all-time high, like $1.4 trillion on credit cards. So this is a big problem,” Murset said.

It’s a problem shoppers should think about, as they check out those carts full of deals.

“Sometimes, some things you just really want,” Yacobucci said.

Murset recommends using your debit card or cash on these types of purchases. That’ll help you stick to a budget and avoid racking up debt.

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